Warehouse with no electricity - lighting recommendations

[loadedmind]

Hello all. I recently acquired a warehouse with no electricity that has high bays. I'd say the height of each bay is around 30 ft with a total of 6 bays. I realize, eventually, I'm going to need to run electricity to the warehouse, but i need a short-term solution. I have some boxes that I need to rummage through occasionally and will eventually be doing some mechanical work to vehicles, but not for a while. In the past, I've purchased the Harbor Freight LED trouble-light that has the cord for charging the lithium batteries inside and it lasts a good long while. The lighting is decent, but one would really need to buy a few of these to be able to see the contents of the boxes sufficiently. Also, I'm not real fond of the quality of LED's as opposed to standard bulbs, but I realize the savings from the electrical output and am willing to acquiesce. The area I'd like to light up is around 400 square feet. The budget is as cheap as I can get, but if I need to cough up a hundred dollars and it's a good solution, I'm ok with that.

Any and all feedback is extremely appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

LEDs are better than standard bulbs and can get as bright as you want, period. Problem is that they cost more. In that sense they might not always be the most cost-effective choice. They will, however, allow your battery to last at least twice as long, maybe even three times as long. There are lots of crappy LED bulbs out there but it's not the fault of LEDs themselves.

Could you string some wires up to some 12V lights and run them from something like a car battery? (If you do this, make sure to use a quality AGM car battery (or, better, marine battery) like an Odyssey or Deka Intimidator... or make sure not to fully drain the battery each use...)

 

[joe_padavano]

Just spend a couple of hundred bucks on a small used gasoline generator. You'll spend more money on LED lights, batteries, etc, etc.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Small solar panel, charger/inverter, batteries and LED lights?

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

Small solar panel, charger/inverter, batteries and LED lights?

Not sure about a "small solar panel" as you need a fairly large one to get say 100 watts. He seems to want quite a lot of light so I'm not sure it could be done with a small solar panel. But if his needs do fall within what one can deliver, I think that's a good idea. Though if you used a car battery or a bank of them and the lights were off during times where the panels could recharge the batteries, that is probably the best and eco-friendly solution.

The generator is also a good idea if the noise isn't going to be an issue.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The area I'd like to light up is around 400 square feet. The budget is as cheap as I can get, but if I need to cough up a hundred dollars and it's a good solution, I'm ok with that.

For that amount get some battery powered LED flood lights.

You could get ones that had motion detector built in, but those are usually solar powered, so you would have to mount them so they could be removed and placed outside occasionally on sunny days OR one that has a detached solar panel.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Hello all. I recently acquired a warehouse with no electricity that has high bays. I'd say the height of each bay is around 30 ft with a total of 6 bays. I realize, eventually, I'm going to need to run electricity to the warehouse, but i need a short-term solution. I have some boxes that I need to rummage through occasionally and will eventually be doing some mechanical work to vehicles, but not for a while. In the past, I've purchased the Harbor Freight LED trouble-light that has the cord for charging the lithium batteries inside and it lasts a good long while. The lighting is decent, but one would really need to buy a few of these to be able to see the contents of the boxes sufficiently. Also, I'm not real fond of the quality of LED's as opposed to standard bulbs, but I realize the savings from the electrical output and am willing to acquiesce. The area I'd like to light up is around 400 square feet. The budget is as cheap as I can get, but if I need to cough up a hundred dollars and it's a good solution, I'm ok with that.

Any and all feedback is extremely appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

Lighting 400 sq ft for $100 with no electricity is really pushing the limits of possibility. Auto repair is not an option. For looking in boxes:

Buy 10 of these: LED Bulbs http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...19-Dimmable-LED-Light-Bulb-E-452978/204730356 $40

Add 10 of these: Sockets http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008P81FWG/?tag=atomicindus08-20 $8

100ft spool of wire: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-100-ft-18-2-Thermostat-Wire-210-1002CR/202750280 $17

Cheap Inverter: http://www.walmart.com/ip/16553071?...38651792&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78652048592&veh=sem $26

$91 (assuming you have a spare battery, battery charger and misc hardware.)

 

[G_P]

You can get a super cheap generator at Harbor Freight with a coupon for about $100. Combine that with some LED lights.